PAP 72 - Will the rural landscape once again taste good on our plates?

Philippe Pointereau, December 2023

Le Collectif Paysages de l’Après-Pétrole (PAP)

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Country, farmers, landscape

Before trade became widespread, or even the norm, rural people, often peasants, had to extract food, materials and energy from their land. Self-consumption dominated. Trade took place at fairs. Goods from elsewhere were bought: wine for wool, cheese for wheat. Whether it was cereals, potatoes, fruit or livestock, production was more diversified and much more evenly spread across the region than it is today. In 2022, 64% of French potatoes came from the Hauts de France region, compared with 7% in 1929. Similarly, the four Breton départements now rear 59% of pigs, compared with 10% in 1929. As a result of the diversity of production and the narrowness of the land parcels, the high level of complexity of the agrarian landscapes was maintained until the end of the 1950s. With a rich biodiversity resulting from the variety of terroirs, these typical landscapes formed the basis of so many local cultural identities: for example, the vast chestnut groves on the slopes and terraces of the southern Cévennes or Corsica, the cereal plains of central France where crops were combined with grazing, the bocages of the west oriented towards dairy production, or the wine-growing terraces almost everywhere on sloping land, as soon as the climate allowed it. The way in which agricultural produce is processed, preserved and cooked has left us with a wealth of regional recipes based on farming traditions. The organisation of the productive space gave rise to just as many dishes. Conversely, the composition of the plate derived to a large extent from the rural landscape. The large consumption of local cider or calvados meant that the surrounding apple orchards had to be spread out, while dishes based on chestnuts meant that there had to be chestnut groves where the many varieties could be harvested. So the formula of country-farmers-landscape (the 3 P’s rule) so dear to the agronomist J.P. Deffontaines and promoted in 1992 by the Ministry of the Environment in its project for a label of reconquered landscapes could today be extended to two complementary terms: the product and the dish (the 5 P’s rule). The different ways of consuming a plant or animal agricultural product locally are reflected in the preparations and recipes that have become the ambassadors of their regions over time. This is the case with jambon noir from Bigorre, fondue from Savoie or aligot from Aubrac. Some recipes have been exported widely, such as cassoulet, sauerkraut from Alsace, quiche from Lorraine, couscous from North Africa or risotto from the Po Valley, and even industrialised. Some regions are now trying to recreate this link, such as the Basque country with its cultivation of Grand Roux Basque maize and the production of polenta, the Rennes Métropole region which is reviving buckwheat to produce its galettes, or the Sault region which has revived the cultivation of small spelt to make bread. On the other hand, many agri-food companies are seeking to benefit from the image of the terroir and the name without justifying the origin of the product or complying with the specifications. Anchoring a product in the landscape can therefore be tenuous or distant, real or virtual. Very often, the landscapes shown in advertisements are part of farming systems that have been abandoned.

The 5P principle does not therefore apply in the same way or with the same intensity everywhere. As a way of understanding an agricultural landscape and a tool for analysis, it raises the question of the trajectory of products from the soil from which they are grown to their final enjoyment by humans, at the end of marketing circuits and based on ways of cooking that have different impacts on the surrounding area. It can be hypothesised that the structuring of a landscape is all the stronger and more enduring if its typical agricultural production is partly consumed and enhanced locally by as many recipes for dishes. While some of the product is exported outside the region, it remains rooted in local agronomic, manufacturing and culinary know-how, which is rooted in the landscapes that tell its story. This strong link between food and landscape involves the sensory and memorial dimensions of the experience. The landscape is perceived and felt by its inhabitants and by those who visit a given area. The smell of hay, the sound of cowbells and the mosaic of colours in the vineyards in autumn are all moments of sensitive wonder. By becoming more aesthetic, the link between product and landscape is internalised and becomes symbolic, emotional and cultural. It is the measure of a vital incarnation that our contemporaries aspire to perpetuate.

And what about today?

This more or less strong link between local food production and local food supply has become progressively weaker and has sometimes disappeared as a result of the development of means of transport (trains, then lorries and boats), the widespread use of agricultural inputs (fertilisers, oil, irrigation water, pesticides, mechanisation), the extension of off-farm systems (greenhouses, industrial livestock farms) and an agri-food industry that is increasingly practising ultra-processing and leading to the standardisation of our food. As a result, agricultural production has gradually become disconnected from the soil and the place where it is consumed. Regions and farms have become more specialised and intensified, losing much of their unique character. Trade has spread all over the world. With the exception of local products (PDO, PGI) or products from short distribution circuits, it is becoming increasingly difficult to know the precise origin of the product we are consuming.

Today, France exports cereals (wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed), dairy products, meat, wines and spirits on a massive scale. It imports protein crops (soya), tropical products (coffee, tea, cocoa, etc.), citrus fruits and vegetables, as well as cereals (durum wheat, rice, buckwheat) and meat (mutton and beef). A closer look at this trade reveals that we often import and export the same type of production: we sell grazing cattle, we buy the meat of cull dairy cows; we import as much sunflower or rapeseed as we export. By estimating these exchanges not by their monetary value but by the surface area where they are grown, we can measure the scale of these flows. Between 2010 and 2016, France exported on average the equivalent of 44% of its agricultural area (i.e. 12.7 Mha) and imported the equivalent of 33% (i.e. 10 Mha). Regional and international trade has grown steadily, driven by the quest for greater profit and propelled by free trade agreements. At a local level, agriculture is no longer a reflection of what local people consume, but an image of increasingly specialised and globalised agriculture, and increasingly processed and standardised food. Feeding dairy cows primarily grass and pasture rather than silage maize and soya cake, and sometimes without grazing them, does not produce the same type of landscape or, without doubt, the same amount of CO2 emissions.

The stages of a necessary evolution

The globalisation and intensification of agriculture have not been achieved without environmental and social damage in our own country and in the countries with which we trade: deforestation, groundwater pollution, the exodus of farmers to the cities. Our national food consumption has an impact on agriculture, landscapes, social life and the environment in many countries around the world. The notion of a food footprint can be measured in terms of carbon footprint, food surface area or ecological impact. Health crises, wars, the ecological, energy and climate crises are calling into question this liberal model, which is threatening France’s food sovereignty, as more than 11 million people (16% of the population) do not have enough to eat. The 2014 Law on the Future opened a breach in this globalised economy by launching territorial food plans, or PATs. From local to regional level, there will be 430 such plans by 2023. Behind a non-binding territorial project, the aim is to rediscover the link between agriculture and local food needs. This recoupling, supported by local authorities and their partners, has a number of objectives: to protect farmland and set up young farmers; to support changes in farming practices to restore the quality of water catchment areas; to provide fresh produce, particularly vegetables, by setting up short distribution channels; to combat food insecurity; and to stimulate the local economy. These TAPs do not yet include landscape approaches, which could facilitate their implementation. These TAPs have been strengthened by the EGAlim law of 2018, which requires collective catering to be supplied with organic and labelled products (50%, 20% of which must be organic). Many local authorities are currently encouraging local consumption in the catering sector by making use of the leeway provided by public procurement contracts, which prohibit « localism »: contracts are allocated to favour small producers, simplified procedures are used to provide flexibility, quality criteria are introduced such as freshness or an educational component to raise awareness among schoolchildren, and water is purchased as a service. 21% of farms practise this type of sale (60% in market gardening, 47% in winegrowing and 37% in livestock farming), representing almost 10% of total food consumption. The most committed local authorities are taking advantage of this to introduce ‘home-made’ and ‘more plant-based’ food, which has a positive impact on both production and food quality. This is the case for the 35 secondary schools in the Dordogne, which are approaching 100% organic, local and home-made. The municipality of Mouans-Sartoux (06) reached this target in 2013. It has a local authority to produce its own vegetables and maintain the area around the village, as does Razac-sur-l’Isle (24) with its municipal market garden farm due to open in 2022. Some agricultural high schools have both a farm and a canteen, and consume their produce, providing students with many educational opportunities. At inter-municipal level, as part of its Terres de Sources project, Rennes-Métropole and its water authority are supporting a change in practices among farmers whose farms are located in catchment areas, with the aim of restoring the quality of its drinking water while supplying local public markets. The regional nature parks are also places of experimentation that promote local consumption through the « Valeurs Parcs Naturels Régionaux » collective brand. Throughout France, structures have been set up to support this transition, such as the Agrilocal platforms supported by the départements to put producers in touch with public orders, or the association « Les pieds dans le plat », which trains cooks in homemade, plant-based and local produce, and provides advice to local authorities. This new dimension of local development driven by food issues is full of promise, because landscape approaches based on a sound historical and geographical knowledge of the unique features of each area, and involving all the players involved, can encourage the reinvention of living agricultural and food landscapes for the benefit of all. The installation of a farmer-baker, diversified market gardeners, small ruminant cheese processors and brewers are concrete examples of this. Compared with other European countries, France’s policy of protected and controlled designations of origin (AOP and AOC) has helped to preserve the identity of many of its terroirs, some of whose production is now exported. These include beef from Charolles, Fin Gras from Mézenc, salt-meadow sheep, black pig from Bigorre, bull from Camargue, olive oil from Haute-Provence, Corsica and Nyons, Muscat from Ventoux, figs from Solliès, red apricots from Roussillon, sweet onions from the Cévennes, Espelette chilli peppers, lentils from Puy and Crau hay. Producers located in an AOC area can play a positive role in the quality of the landscape, whether it serves as their image or, in a more constitutive way, whether the cultivation or rearing of the AOC product leads to a way of exploiting the land that is recognisable by the type of space it induces. A PDO is a collective process that requires a majority of producers to sign up to a set of specifications specifying the characteristics of the product, its production and processing methods, and its geographical boundaries. The key advantage of a PDO is that it is linked to a specific terroir, the result of a system of interactions between a physical and biological environment (in particular specific animal breeds or plant varieties). Specific processing methods give the final product its originality and typicality. The definition of the PDO terroir characterises a given landscape, the quality and durability of which are ensured by the precise implementation of a set of specifications. Established in 1969 on part of the plain (6,844 ha), the Saint-Joseph PDO restricted its area in 1994 to the terraces on the slopes (3,400 ha).

From product quality to sustainable environmental management

The Permanent Council of the Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité (INAO) has defined a number of options that defence and management bodies (ODGs) can choose from to commit their operators to an environmental approach that establishes a link between a product and its terroir. The Comté PDO specification (2,400 producers) is a benchmark in this area, focusing on the organoleptic quality of the product, environmental protection and the social dimensions of production. As with most PDO cheeses, the breed of animal used to produce Comté is specified: Montbéliarde and Simmental. Milking must be carried out twice a day, without the use of robots. The intensity of farming practices is controlled in a number of ways: a minimum of 1.3 ha of pasture per dairy cow, permanent grassland must account for at least 50% of the forage area, maize silage and GMO feed (soya) are banned, and the consumption of concentrates must not exceed 1800 kg per dairy cow (non-binding threshold). On the social front, a maximum farm size has been set to limit expansion, with a ceiling of 50 dairy cows for the farm manager and 90 cows for two labour units. The milk collection area may not extend further than 25 kilometres from the head office of the dairy. Most milk is produced from grass and paid at an average of €700 per tonne, compared with €400-450 in France in 2023. This helps to maintain family farms (330,000 litres on average per farm, compared with 440,000 in France) and makes it easier to take over farms. This sector will have to continue to adapt to cope with global warming and maintain water quality in its area. To limit the risks of intensification of practices, which is often synonymous with a loss of quality, most PDOs seek to limit production per hectare for wine and meat, which leads farmers to maintain sloping plots throughout the classified area, which would otherwise have become fallow. Production can also be limited per animal (for milk) or per farm (as in the case of the Comté appellation), either by proposing a minimum rearing period (Bresse poultry) or by limiting the use of inputs (fertilisers, livestock feed, ban on irrigation). The ban on the use of GMOs is a strong commitment of PDOs, and is also taken up in red labels and, of course, organic farming.

By producing added value, PDOs help to maintain certain High Nature Value (HNV) environments such as salt marshes, tall orchard meadows, wet meadows, hedgerows and steep slopes. They maintain agro-ecological infrastructures that are closely linked to production, such as ponds and ditches that help water run off, terraces that protect against erosion, and hedges that shelter crops and animals from the wind. These landscapes would be threatened if production were to disappear. So PDOs remain inspiring models for thinking about the ways and assets of quality production.

But does this mean that farming rooted in the local terroir is a model capable of transforming our industrial agriculture?

Under what conditions will the TAP model be able to become widespread, or will it merely represent a niche for informed consumers?

If we are to deconstruct the well-organised system that has been established between the agri-food industries, supermarkets and central kitchens, which are often contracted out to the private sector, we need only look at the current low proportion of PDOs in our country’s overall food production. Today, they account for 75% of volumes marketed for wines and spirits, and 14.4% for cheeses. In terms of French milk production, PDO cheeses account for a very small proportion (less than 10%). This share is even more marginal for meat (less than 1%). By accompanying a shift in our diet towards more plant-based, more organic and more local produce, the TAPs represent a real opportunity to try and develop agriculture based on agro-ecology, the implementation of which will be facilitated by landscape approaches. By placing food at the heart of the scheme, promoting home-made food and inventing new ways of preparing dishes, cooks in the public and private catering sectors will become key players. Although the areas concerned are still small, less than 10% of the UAA, they are constantly increasing and bear witness to an emerging trend with multiple effects. Each of the TAPs, at their own scale, is committed to rebuilding the relationship between production, distribution and consumption within spatial limits that can be identified, controlled and administered by local players. This means ensuring the local presence of processing facilities such as abattoirs, mills, oil mills and vegetable processing plants.

The limits of the neo-liberal model and its consequences for climate change call for a change in our food production and distribution systems. While local products are based on authenticity, the values of the past, local cultures and the originality of the land (terraces, canals, etc.), the values of the new landscapes that the TAPs will promote will be resilience, the recycling of organic matter (compost, biogas), the fight against climate change through sobriety and the deployment of renewable energies, agroecology (cover crops, intra-parcel agroforestry) and the fight against food insecurity. They will bring consumers closer to producers and create a new pact between rural and urban areas. The process of reappropriating food and the quest for a quality living environment will rebuild shared cultural and landscape identities. New landscapes will emerge from these new relationships between consumers, elected representatives and local producers. We can imagine new food-producing belts associated with farm shops or farm markets accessible by bicycle. These emerging landscapes could be designed and projected as a desirable future in which everyone has a role to play. Augusto Perelli concludes: « Tomorrow’s agriculture will have to meet two fundamental requirements: it will have to ensure that food needs are met on an obviously regional basis rather than at an abstract global level, and it will have to enable agro-ecosystems to function properly without damaging their maintenance, the quality of the environment or human health ». (Human settlements and agrarian landscapes, Encyclopédie de la Méditerranée, translated from Italian by Mohamed Hassani, Edisud, 1997).

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